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Hungary
Race17h 44m
Liam Lawson says overtaking in the Hungarian Grand Prix will be "basically impossible" as he tries to recover from qualifying 11th. Lawson said: "I just drove really badly in Q2; it is a shame as the car has been very, very good this weekend. We had a good long run, so hopefully we have a fast race car, but it is basically impossible to overtake, so it is going to be tough."
Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin's major upgrade package made it feel like "a different Qualifying" as he reached Q2 for the first time in 2026 at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Alonso said: "It was a different weekend, different Qualifying. We felt that we could fight a little bit more and we could influence the final result of Qualifying if we made a perfect lap or a perfect set-up. That adrenaline when you close the visor and you go into the lap, it was missed in the last few events – we were on the last row of the grid, whatever we were doing on the car. It was nice to go back to that feeling, and hopefully more to come in the next few races."
Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Hungarian Grand Prix after the stewards ruled he did not slow sufficiently for local yellow flags in qualifying at the final corner, where Max Verstappen was stopped in the run-off. Antonelli, who qualified fourth, will now start seventh and also received a penalty point on his licence.
Charles Leclerc admitted his pace "was never to the level" of Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, saying he could not find an answer in Turns 1 and 12 at the Hungaroring. Leclerc said: "I'm a bit disappointed. Disappointed mostly because I didn't find a solution for Turn 1 and Turn 12 all today, really. In FP3 already I was struggling with Turn 1 and Turn 12, and I was still losing three-tenths or something like this in Q3 in Turn 1 and Turn 12... But the pace was never to the level of Lewis, so it was all about trying to maximise today."
Max Verstappen said Red Bull’s car was “a joke” and “really crazy” in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix after he took sixth, half a second off pole-sitter Lando Norris. Verstappen said: "The car just kept getting worse and worse lap after lap, so the more laps I did on this more and more difficult to put a lap together, and for tomorrow as well we need to fix that because the car is not drivable like this, as you can see in the front of the corner, I mean, you just turn in and the car is like non-existent in the rear, so it's really crazy."
Max Verstappen says he is “already past” feeling desperate after a difficult qualifying session at the Hungaroring in which he said Red Bull could see its aerodynamics “deteriorating” in the data and he will start Sunday’s race sixth. Verstappen said: "No, no, desperate? That word doesn't even exist for me anymore. I'm already past that stage. We just let it go and try again tomorrow."
Lewis Hamilton has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Hungarian Grand Prix after the stewards found he impeded Oscar Piastri in qualifying. Hamilton was judged to have been “travelling at a significantly reduced speed on the racing line” into Turn 1 as Piastri approached on a push lap, forcing the McLaren driver to abort. The Ferrari driver drops from second to fifth on the grid, promoting team-mate Charles Leclerc onto the front row alongside poleman Lando Norris. Hamilton said: “I had no idea he was coming.”
Lando Norris says the Hungaroring surface is still breaking up in places despite Friday night repairs, making it difficult for drivers to find a consistent feel in key corners at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Norris said: "Also, because the track is pretty broken up in places and there are a lot of different patches of tarmac in Turn 1 and Turn 12, I struggled to get a consistent feeling of what was best or what the car was doing every time in these kinds of corners."
Fernando Alonso said his Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying result was an "important" lift for Aston Martin after the team’s first major upgrade of the year helped him reach Q2 for the first time in the 2026 season. Alonso said: "It was important. Definitely, it was important for everyone in the team as it has been a tough period in both factories. Having the deficit that we had in terms of performance in the first half of the year, and this package obviously didn't change many positions, but it changed a lot the momentum of everyone in the factory. It's not anymore that we are chasing something that we don't know."
George Russell said a water leak caused his Mercedes to stop on track at Turn 1 at the end of qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Russell said: "We lost water pressure and had a water leak, so when I was stopped on track, the car was leaking all over the place. We don't know where it's coming from. Fingers crossed, it doesn't affect anything for tomorrow."
Lando Norris said he was “pleasantly surprised” to take pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix, after beating Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc despite feeling his Q3 laps were “not the best”. Norris said: "Honestly, I had confidence the whole of today. My laps in Q3 were not the best, even the one at the end, so I'm pleasantly surprised to be on top. We've been doing a good job, the car's been feeling good, I've had good confidence."
Oscar Piastri accused Lewis Hamilton of “not looking in his mirrors” after he said the Ferrari driver impeded him at Turn 1 during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Hamilton under investigation for the incident. Piastri said: "It was just Lewis not looking in his mirrors, the yellow flag wasn't my problem. A shame, because it meant I didn't get a lap in either way. Clearly the car has been quick today. I've certainly been chasing it, it's not been easy, but clearly there's performance there."
Max Verstappen said Red Bull are suffering from "car degradation" after he spun at the final corner on his last qualifying lap and ended up sixth on the grid. Verstappen said: "The whole weekend has been tough but in qualifying especially the car is just degrading. We don't have tyre deg, we have car degradation. I really can't make anything out of it, it's just really, really tough. The car suddenly just started oversteering a lot and honestly every lap that I did in qualifying just was worse and worse."
Lando Norris said pushing harder on his final lap in Q3 was the key to taking pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix, after he beat Lewis Hamilton by 0.012 seconds and stopped the seven-time champion from taking a record 10th pole at the venue. Norris said: "I had confidence the whole of today. My laps in Q3 were not the best, even the one at the end, so pleasantly surprised to be on top. We have been doing a good job. The car has been feeling good, I've had good confidence. I pushed it more on the last lap - some paid off, some didn't but the main thing is we did it in the end."
Lewis Hamilton questioned Ferrari’s decision to send him out first for the final Q3 runs in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, as he faces a stewards’ inquiry for impeding Oscar Piastri at Turn 1. Hamilton said: "We have been doing a great job all weekend. I felt solid throughout qualifying and, for some reason, we went out first, which I don't think was the right call. But then, on top of that, just the grip for some reason wasn't there on that last lap for both Charles and me."
Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli are facing stewards investigations after Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying. Hamilton, who qualified second, is under investigation for an alleged Q3 impeding of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at Turn 1. Antonelli, who qualified fourth, is being investigated for an alleged yellow-flag infringement in Q3 after Max Verstappen spun at the final corner.
Lando Norris claimed his first pole position as reigning world champion with a superb final lap in qualifying at the Hungaroring.
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